LA 카운티미술관 <神興寺 靈山會上圖>

Abstract

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (hereinafter LACMA) in the United States holds in its collection one of the finest examples of Korean Buddhist painting. Through the inscription on the bottom of the painting, it has been identified as the Preaching Sakyamuni Buddha painted in 1755 that had formerly been enshrined in Sinheungsa Temple on Seoraksan Mountain in Gangwon-do Province in South Korea. This Preaching Sakyamuni Buddha was hung behind the Buddha statue in the Geungnakbojeon Hall(Hall of Paradise, in Sinheungsa Temple until the 1950s. In the early 1950s, during the Korean War, fierce battles were fought and soldiers were concentrated around the area of Sinheungsa Temple, and the US forces were also stationed in the region. Paul B. Fancher, who was a US signal officer at the time, had taken a number of photos of the region, one of which captured the Preaching Sakyamuni Buddha placed inside the Geungnakbojeon Hall at Sinheungsa Temple. The painting unfortunately disappeared from the temple in the 1960s and only reappeared in 2010 at LACMA. A Korean curator who had been newly appointed to LACMA in 2006 found the painting cut into six pieces in storage at the museum. LACMA soon planned a restoration project for the Preaching Sakyamuni Buddha and commissioned specialists from Korea, including Professor Park Chi-Sun and other conservation experts from the Jeong-Jae Conservation Center in Seoul. The painting underwent a complex treatment process from 2010 through 2012. The six fragments of Preaching Sakyamuni Buddha have now been mended and are on display as a single large painting representing the arts of Korea at LACMA. The painting depicts Sakyamuni preaching to a large assembly on Vulture Peak in India. The painting is wider than it is high and portrays the enlightenment and preaching of Sakyamuni through a stable composition. The original paint was significantly discolored and flaked, but the painting’s main colors ? green and red ? were maintained while the restoration added neutral tints of pastel colors, yielding a bright and serene atmosphere. According to the inscription, the monks following Monk Woljeo Doan, a proponent of the Buddhist doctrine of Monk Cheongheo Hyujeong, were patrons of this painting, and Monk Yongam Chejo was a central figure in its production. There remains much to investigate regarding these monk-painters and the school’s followers, but this paper focused on identifying the career of the monk-painter Chilhye, whose name appears in the inscription after the head monk-painters. The Bodhisattvas in the painting feature characteristics typical of the monk-painter Uigyeom from the 18th century. This trait suggests that the painting could be related to the large hanging painting at Bongseonsa Temple, which was painted by Gakchong and Uigyeom. Moreover, the inscription on the painting assists in investigating the relations of the royal court with the painting. The Preaching Sakyamuni Buddha at LACMA, which had formerly been enshrined in Sinheungsa Temple in Gangwon-do Province since the mid-18th century, is a representative example of Buddhist paintings on the theme of Shakyamuni preaching to the assembly on Vulture Peak produced in the 18th century.